Emerging technologies, supported by significant advancements in software, big data and processing power, will reshape businesses by 2030. Personalised, integrated artificial intelligence (AI) assistants will take care of us in predictive and automated ways.
This is according to a research report published by Dell Technologies titled, "The next era of human/machine partnerships." The report reveals in 2030 "humans' reliance on technology will evolve into a true partnership with humans, bringing skills such as creativity, passion and an entrepreneurial mindset". This will align with the machines' ability to bring speed, automation and efficiencies, and the resulting productivity will allow for new opportunities within industries and roles.
The research, led by the Institute for the Future, alongside 20 technology, academic and business experts from across the globe, looks at how emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, virtual reality, augmented reality and cloud computing, will transform our lives and how we work over the next decade.
"Never before has the industry experienced so much disruption. The pace of change is very real, and we're now in a do-or-die landscape. To leap ahead in the era of human-machine partnerships, every business will need to be a digital business, with software at its core," says Jeremy Burton, chief marketing officer, Dell. "But organisations will need to move fast and build capacity in their machines, ready their infrastructure and enable their workforce in order to power this change."
Society will enter a new phase in its relationship with machines, which will be characterised by even greater efficiency and possibility than ever before, helping humans transcend our limitations, says the study.
"We've been exposed to two extreme perspectives about machines and the future: the anxiety-driven issue of technological unemployment or the over optimistic view that technology will cure all our social and environmental ills," says Rachel Maguire, research director, Institute for the Future. "Instead we need to focus on what the new relationship between technology and people could look like and how we can prepare accordingly. If we engage in the hard work of empowering human-machine partnerships to succeed, their impact on society will enrich us all."
According to a report by market analyst firm Gartner, market hype and growing interest in artificial intelligence are pushing established software vendors to introduce AI into their product strategy, creating considerable confusion in the process.
"As AI accelerates up the hype cycle, many software providers are looking to stake their claim in the biggest gold rush in recent years," says Jim Hare, research vice-president at Gartner. AI offers exciting possibilities, but unfortunately, most vendors are focused on the goal of simply building and marketing an AI-based product rather than first identifying needs, potential uses and the business value to customers."
Dimension Data's Digital Workplace report, reveals while artificial intelligence technology is still in its infancy, it is sufficiently advanced to be working its way into local companies in the form of virtual assistants, and in certain industries such as banking, virtual tellers and virtual advisors.
"It's no longer enough to simply implement these technologies," says Krista Brown, Dimension Data's Group End-user Computing SVP. "Organisations have grown their use of analytics to understand how these technologies impact their business performance: 64% of businesses use analytics to improve their customer services, and 58% use analytics to benchmark their workplace technologies."
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